


Shattered Glass

by moonlitceleste



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Maribat - Fandom, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Deserves Better, NOT salt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:48:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27941054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonlitceleste/pseuds/moonlitceleste
Summary: All it takes is one bad day. That's how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day. You had a bad day once. Am I right? I know I am. You had a bad day, and everything changed!After years of dealing with the weight of her responsibilities, Marinette finally shatters. Who’s going to help her put her broken pieces back together?
Relationships: Batfamily Members & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Cassandra Cain & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Barbara Gordon, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Bruce Wayne, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Damian Wayne, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Dick Grayson, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Duke Thomas, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Tim Drake & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 5
Kudos: 82





	Shattered Glass

**Author's Note:**

> This story is less of a salt fic and more of a healing journey for Marinette. The characters’ actions within this are meant to act as a reflection of their current personalities and show what would happen if they continued along that path. They’re all going to face the consequences of their actions, but in a less extreme way than would be done in a salt fic (not that there's anything wrong with those).  
> Also, sorry for those of you waiting for an update on Elevator Love; to be honest, that’s probably not going to happen anytime soon since I don’t have any inspiration. I might continue it eventually, but thanks in advance for understanding ^-^

All it had taken was a bad day.  _ One bad day, _ as the Joker would say.

One bad day for Marinette to finally snap.

...Perhaps it wasn’t  _ just _ one bad day, though.

Maybe it was nearly two years of having to deal with Lila’s threats, of watching her friends slowly drift away before they left her grasp completely.

Maybe it was Chat Noir, who wouldn’t stop asking her on dates no matter how many times she turned him down.

Maybe it was the crushing pressure that came with being both Ladybug and the Grand Guardian.

There were cracks in her glass.

Marinette didn’t shatter because she  _ couldn’t. _

Not when people depended on it, on  _ her _ . 

She walked a thin line between keeping her sanity and letting the universe implode on itself—and really, only one of those mattered in the grand scheme of things.

So she held out.

Each day, Marinette walked into school and ignored the persistent whispers and glares that followed her.

Each day, she put up with Lila’s threats and false accusations.

Each day, she struggled to come up with increasingly clever ideas to defeat whichever akuma she was facing while Chat sat on the sidelines, pouting because she had rejected him yet again.

Each day, she told herself that it was fine. That she would find another solution because she  _ always  _ did.

She knew she was lying to herself.

Marinette was just so _ tired _ of everything.

Of having to drag herself out of bed every day.

Of the responsibilities that weighed her down, the pressure that pushed her and tested her limits until she almost cracked.

She was numb, and she wanted it all to end so she could feel something again.

Feel  _ anything _ .

Everyone had their breaking point, and it just so happened that Marinette hadn’t reached hers yet.

She bent and cracked and glued her pieces back together before anyone could notice they had almost fallen apart in the first place.

Before they could notice the shards on the ground and the blood on her hands.

But Marinette’s foundation was fragile, and it was only a matter of time before someone found her Achilles’ heel and  _ shot. _

So maybe it wasn’t just one bad day that caused her to lose control, to do exactly what she had spent the last few years trying to avoid.

Maybe it wasn’t just one bad day that drove her to give in to temptation.

Maybe it wasn’t just one bad day that caused her to close her eyes and finally say,

“Yes, Hawkmoth.”


End file.
